How To Produce Videos & Films

HOW TO PRODUCE VIDEOS & FILMS

By R. John

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112119

Copyright © 2019 R. John, All Rights Reserved.

Epub Edition November 2019

BISAC: Performing Arts

Television / Direction & Production / Screenplays / Screenwriting / Storytelling

Film / Direction & Production

Business Aspects

Subjects: Motion Pictures, Video, Cameras, Sound Recorders, Motion Picture Job Descriptions, Special Effects, Editing, Script Writing.

Product names, trade name, and trademarks appearing in this book

for the purposes of education, example, review, and comparison only.

No endorsement

is expressed or implied by the companies listed.

No suitability for use is expressed or implied by either the Author or the Companies listed. Test things out before you use any product in a production!

Search out the best prices and support policy, and try before you buy.

When buying products, compare prices, sources, and specifications.

Note: Any prices listed in this book were effective at the time of writing

from the sources we found and are subject to change without notice. All prices are in U.S. funds and might be rounded off and are without tax or shipping.

Your local retailer will determine the final price on any item listed in this book.

Items talked about or listed may be discontinued by the time you read this book.

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Photo and Illustration Credit

Chapter 1

Video Camera is from Creative Commons, Foster, Sreejithk2000 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canon_XM2-GL2_Camcorder.jpg

Chapter 3

Screen Shot Excerpt is from Welcome to Tinseltown Copyright © 2016 R. John.

Chapters 9 to 13

These are promotional and advertising photos for the products indicated and are used to give the reader information and education about various brands, models, their features and prices in the Buyers Guide area of the book.

Comparison of 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0 and 4:1:1 Copyright by Janke 2010 Creative Commons License

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Chapter 22

Aerial and Beach background photos by Antonio Russo.

Chapter 26

Photo Copyright © 1986 Lucrecia and E.RD.

Chapter 28

Optical Printer Creative Commons Copyright © 2017 by Photo820S. This picture was cropped and edited to remove part of the background.

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Chapter 30

From BMI Rapid Cue Web Site

https://www.rapidcue.comhttps://www.bmi.com/news/entry/bmi_and_ascap_announce_new_standardized_cue_sheet_template_powered_by_rapid

Chapter 31

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Chapter 33

Magic Lantern Author Andrei Niemimäki Creative Commons License

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Zoetrope Patent Drawing is in the Public Domain

Color Wheel drawn by the book author.

Crookes Tubes D-Kuru Creative Commons License

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Edison Phonograph Photo of S. Borri and Mickey Hart, provided by S. Borri

Soundtrack Drawing from Rotareneg Creative Commons GNU Free Documentation License.

Bandwidth drawing by the book author.

Additive color lights by Davin7 Creative Commons License.

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Video Pulldown is Eric Lee 2007 Creative Commons License.

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Quad Recording Setup and Helical Scan Recording Setup by Joseph Rolzen, Television Tape Techniques Today in Broadcast Engineering magazine, Howard W. Sams and Co. Inc., New York, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 1963, p. 20 on American Radio History. No copyright renewal was found by a third party. Taken from Wikipedia Creative Commons License.

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Helicopter photo showing effects of a Rolling Shutter by Jonen 2007 Under Wiki Commons License https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jamtlands_Flyg_EC120B_Colibri.JPG

Chapter 34

YIQ Tokachu at English Wikipedia 2010

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YUV Photo by Brianski is considered to be in the Public Domain

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Bayer Photo Example

Original: Colorful Spring Garden by Anita Martinz 2007  Creative Commons License

Derivative work for Bayer Filter Example by Cmglee in 2013 Creative Commons License https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colorful_spring_garden_Bayer.png

All other drawings and photos not otherwise listed are by the book author.

Contents

FOREWORD

1. A SHORT COURSE IN MOVIE MAKING

2. THE PRODUCER

3. THE STORY OR SCRIPT

4. BREAKDOWNS AND BUDGETS

5. FINANCING THE PROJECT

6. BUSINESS STRUCTURE AND TAXES

7. LIABILITIES

8. COPYRIGHTS AND LICENSING

9. BUYERS GUIDE FOR SELECTING A CAMERA

10. BUYERS GUIDE FOR TRIPODS AND CAMERA MOUNTS

11. BUYERS GUIDE FOR SOUND RECORDING

12. SELECTING A SEPARATE SOUND RECORDER

13. BUYERS GUIDE FOR LIGHTING EQUIPMENT

14. THE DIRECTOR

15. CASTING

16. ACTORS

17. REHEARSING THE STORY

18. THE CREW

19. DRESSING THE LOCATION

20. LIGHTING THE SET

21. THE SHOOT

22. SPECIAL EFFECTS

23. MUSIC VIDEOS

24. PRODUCTIONS WITH A SMALL CREW

25. PRODUCING TV COMMERCIALS

26. ANATOMY OF A LONGER PRODUCTION

27. EDITING

28. MUSIC

29. MUSIC RIGHTS AND PUBLISHING

30. LET'S GET TECHNICAL ABOUT CAMERAS

31. FILTERS

32. THE EVOLUTION OF THE MEDIUM

33. YIQ, YUV

34. HOW YOU WOULD PRODUCE A FILM

35. DISTRIBUTING YOUR VIDEOS

36. DAILY UNION RATES FOR LOS ANGELES FILM CREWS

37. CREW POSITIONS

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEB SITE LINKS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Foreword

This book is designed to teach you the basic process of being a film and video maker or producer with any size budget from pocket change to larger sums of money.

Will this book equip you for a job in the movie industry? Not really. You go into the industry mostly as an entry-level something, such as an internship through Guild apprentice programs, or via a relative who is in show biz.

Of course, exceptions exist. If you make your own production and it does really well, they might actually hire you as a Producer or Director without you starting out as an intern, then going up the ladder. Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Dan O’Bannon, Antoine Fuqua, George Lucas, and Robert Rodriguez basically got started that way. Now and then someone breaks in by writing a spec script and getting permission to submit that to a producer who buys it from them. You might also find entry-level positions at local TV or radio stations. I knew the head of video engineering at one PBS station, and he started out as a volunteer at a public radio station that eventually turned into a paying job. Finally, a college education can sometimes help you get into an apprentice program or an entry-level job, but it can’t warranty a job.

What this book will do is introduce you to the process of writing, shooting, editing, and making music for a production of any size from a thirty-second TV commercial to a TV series or full-length motion picture. Your job as a filmmaker or producer is to bring all the people and materials together to make the finished product: a film or video. Knowing something about how everything works, and what people do, will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

There’s a lot of work involved in the production of even a small movie, like a cooking video that runs five minutes, or a TV commercial that runs thirty seconds.

On our first TV commercial, we had a crew of six, plus the clients, who brought along a still photographer and a secretary. That’s a total of ten people. It took a fourteen-hour day to shoot that 30 second commercial on twenty minutes worth of film. We made trips to the sound company for re-recording, then spent two and a half days in the editing center conforming it into something the lab could use to make release prints acceptable to television stations. Then there was the first screening with changes made by the client. A new title card had to be shot. More film was required, and that had to be processed. We had to spend time talking with the laboratory as well as the television station engineers. Then we had to make new prints with color changes and run them down to television stations where they put them in the hopper to replace existing prints. That’s a month in time and ten fourteen-hour days of work. This should give you an idea of what it takes to produce something.

This book starts off with a crash course in making a video. That will give you an idea of how to do a very simple production. The only difference between that and a more complex production would be more video shots, audio files, actors, shooting days, lighting equipment, and a fairly large crew of professional workers. That can translate into a lot of money to make the product and unless you have a studio or production company behind you, that money will have to be found by you!

Next, we look at each aspect of a production, starting with the story, business concepts, the equipment, the crew, and then we go into the production of various products like TV commercials, documentary films, and music videos, before going into the nuts and bolts of editing, music, and tips on marketing.

Then we start getting a little technical for those who like technicalities! We also provide a concise history of motion pictures and video from the first crude image-making processes right up to digital broadcasting in today’s world.

The end of the book includes a look at recent union rates to guide you in budgeting a TV program or feature film. There are also links to equipment, sources of materials to help you make your productions and further reading on various topics found in this book.

Important concepts, terms, ideas, and information are CAPITALIZED to help you remember them or to get you versed in the JARGON of filmmaking.

I work in the American market, so all prices and terms are in U.S. standards, but I do mention a few British terms when known. Prices, by the way, are as of this writing and subject to change without notice. There is no endorsement expressed or implied for any item mentioned by brand name in this book.

1. A Short Course in Movie Making

Since I want to appeal to everyone, let’s get right into it, and later in the book, we’ll take things apart.

What you will need:

A CAMERA that shoots movies. Preferably in HD 1080p at 29.97 or 30 frames per second (fps) in America or 25 fps in Europe. It should take several minutes of video in one fell swoop and it needs to shoot the image horizontally.

The p stands for progressive scan, from top to bottom, and that is what YouTube wants to see in a video file as opposed to the alternative i that stands for interlaced, top to bottom in two passes, even scan lines then odd lines. The p can be after the frames per second speed (30p or 25p) or after the resolution (1080p or 720p).

You’ll find these choices under the heading of settings on most cameras or phones (consult the camera manual). You may need to select video or movie mode and then you’ll see the options. It is possible to use the 720 HD resolution shooting at 30p, but 1080 is preferred. You can even get away with using 480p, then render this in the editing suite to an H.264 file, but the quality is going to suffer compared to other videos made in full 1080 high definition on a streaming service like YouTube.

If you have more than one camera that’s even better. If you don’t have a camera you need to find someone with a camera who will come and shoot movies for you.

It can be a Digital Single Lens Reflex or DSLR, a GoPro, home camcorder or professional video camera. Even a low priced digital camera or smartphone can work if it takes 720 or 1080p movies the wide way, at 30 and 25 fps, with a running time that is longer than a few minutes in length.

You need a TRIPOD for that camera. A $15 lightweight tripod (pictured left) is good for smaller cameras, but for a DSLR you should have a twenty-five to fifty-dollar tripod (center) and if you are renting from a motion picture supplier or if you are willing to spend well over $200 you should invest in a quality FLUID HEAD tripod (right).

Those with smartphones or GoPro cameras also need to invest in a tripod adapter, as these devices will not fit directly on a tripod. These are available from sources like Walmart, or Target for between $5 and $20.

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LIGHTING. You need plenty of light and it must be of the same color and consistency. You can use household lights if they all have the same type of bulb. A pole light would be great. A table light works, especially if you can remove the lampshade to allow more light to strike the surface.

You can also buy professional lighting kits or work with something like hardware store clamp lights that are about $10 to $20 without a bulb. Get one rated for at least 250 watts. They come with and without reflectors, I’d get the reflector, you don’t have to use it, but it might be nice to have around, especially since it protects the side from flying glass if a bulb shatters and helps to keep flare from forming on your image from side lighting.

Put the same type bulbs into these that you use for your house lights. You want to avoid mixing different types of light. Don’t mix sunlight and artificial light unless you can match their color temperature.

Next, you need SOMETHING TO SHOOT. To start a production off you need an idea, and it would be better to have a complete script.

Maybe you have an idea for a TV show or a comedy short. When we were in school, we used to make those kinds of films in either 8 or 16mm. You write it out and get people to help you make it.

Maybe you have skills in some area that will allow you to produce how-to videos. How to do things on the computer. How to play the guitar. How to use a piece of software. Video experts will show how to light a scene or do chroma key. People who write a lot of books that sell will show you how to write, edit or promote your book. You simply demonstrate something as an expert, or you find people who are experts and have them demonstrate while you shoot them.

If you don’t have an idea, you find others who do, then try to put things together and PRODUCE the project.

It helps to own some or all of your own production equipment like a good camera or audio recording gear. Then, you network, go to parties, and talk to people (don’t forget to have a supply of business cards with you). You never know who might ask you to help them with a project.

This is where being in college can help, as it gives you a pool of talent to draw from. Talented people who are experts, so you can produce them doing those how-to videos. Students who write scripts they want to get produced. College also provides you with a wide variety of social opportunities where you can mingle and network.

Over the years, through parties, school productions, and business ventures, I was commissioned by people to produce documentaries for them. I was asked to record sound for some productions, on others I manned the camera. I was asked to do music videos for bands and singers. One producer I worked with use the John Cassavetes way. He got some actors together, gave them a basic idea. He fed them lines and they improvised the dialog, as I shot it. Someone from another production I worked on, approached me to make a TV commercial. This is how you get started, make a product, gain experience or keep busy.

When I had nothing else to do, I shot my own scripts with me as producer, director, actor, sound person, camera operator, and editor. I would go out at night with my car and camera and see if there were any spot news events I could shoot. I would cover late nights and weekends when the TV news crews were not readily available. If you’re going to do news work, it helps to have a police and fire scanner, along with a professional-grade video camera (back then I was using a film camera).

All of these fall under the concept of, you need something to shoot. Doing anything with a camera also gives you experience, and it may give you something to show to a prospective client, studio, or backer.

I once answered a blind ad in Daily Variety, and it was from a movie actor, martial arts expert, and TV commercial producer. He was looking for a cinematographer and I sent him some raw footage I shot. I got two callbacks and took a meeting with the person who was going to direct the film.

Since I retired, I’ve been producing cooking videos. I start by shooting all the ingredients set up on the stove. Then I did close shots of each ingredient. Finally, I started cutting veggies, boiling, frying, and pouring in things like tomato sauce, finally, I show it on a plate, ready to serve.

Once I finish shooting, I type out the narration in a word processor, then use a robot voice to read that narration back while running software that records what it hears on the computer.

I put the narration track, along with hours of video footage from the three-camera shoot into a computer, then import all of that into editing software. That allows for a choice from three shots, one straight, one shot from a forty-five-degree angle, and one overhead.

I would edit this footage down to no more than five or six minutes of finished product, then spice it up with a music track I composed and recorded.

If you are going to use actors in your productions, I strongly recommend getting some extra SOUND RECORDING equipment.

I’ve used one of those small Sony or Olympus digital dictation machines. It must be digital not tape! You put it near the actor, by using a FISHPOLE (a mop handle will do) to hold it near the actors, or by planting recorders somewhere near the actors, or by putting it inside a shirt pocket. If necessary, wrap it in thin foam rubber and stick it inside the actor’s shirt (test this to make sure you don’t hear rubbing sounds).

I’ve worked with the Olympus shown in the above image. It will take an external microphone and I use a tie-tack mic with that unit (these mics come from Walmart, Target, or Amazon, starting at $15 and going up to $150 for a professional-grade Shure, Sennheiser or Schoeps microphone from B&H Photo in New York).

You should test these units with your camera to make sure the vocals synchronize once you put them into the editing software (I will teach you how to do this later in the book).

On a documentary shoot I did for one producer I had the actor hold one of those kids cameras as he spoke his narration ten feet from the camera. I blended the two audio tracks during editing. A lot of these kids cameras are terrible with both picture and sound, so you really have to pick and choose, test them out and be very critical. If all you have, however, is a kids camera try it out and see if it delivers a better sound than your primary camera that might be ten feet away from the subject.

Why do all this? Even a $20,000 camcorder microphone is not good beyond three feet. It picks up reflections in the room, bird noises, fan noises, and cars going by outside. By close microphone placement, you get more of the speech and less of the room tone or ambient noise. On the downside, you can also get handling noise and rubbing sounds from clothing touching the microphone. So, you have to mic with care and listen to the finished product to be sure you captured the dialog perfectly, otherwise you’ll have to do another take or replace that dialog in post-production by bringing the actors in and having them match the video with their re-do of the dialog.

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Next comes POSTPRODUCTION or EDITING.

This is where you take what you shot and turn it into a presentable product.

You should have a fairly powerful computer, with at least 8 MB of RAM, a quad-core processor at 3 MHz or faster, along with a free USB port so you can upload and download. It should also have a dedicated video card with separate RAM for video memory of at least 1 MB, instead of shared video memory.

Macintosh and Windows PCs come with free movie making software installed, but it’s not the greatest so you might want to invest in better software. Some are free to use, while others are priced from $50 to $300. If you’re going to buy, get one that can do at least a dozen tracks on the timeline, if not unlimited tracks. Top of the line software (Final Cut for Macintosh and Premiere Pro for Windows PC) has far better color correcting tools and will also import more file types.

You upload all your film and sound files into the computer from the memory cards inserted into slots on your computer. If you have no card slots but do have USB ports, then you buy an adapter to convert cards to a USB connection that plugs into the computer.

These get imported into the editing software, then you start dragging soundtracks and picture tracks to the editing assembly line. You look at them, then cut these as needed (it’s virtual cutting, so if you make a mistake you can bring the original back and cut it differently next time). This is called assembly editing. You do it in a logical order based on your script or narration, starting with your first shot and going all the way to the last shot. You find your sound elements and line them up on the timeline, adjusting them so all your soundtracks speak at the same time.

I’d run my narration, cut it up during editing to space it, then start pulling shots of what was being described. If the narration said: Now we pour in our egg and ham mixture. I would find a shot of me pouring it into the pan. I’d insert it into the timeline and match it up with the audio track.

If you want, you can record sound effects and add these into the finished product. Background music will improve viewer response to your productions, so it helps to have some musical talent or to know someone who can play an instrument.

Yamaha had one finger bandboxes in some low-priced keyboards that help you create your own songs. You set the keyboard for the one finger bandbox, turn on a drum kit, adjust the speed, then as you press a key it plays bass, piano, and guitar to the rhythm pattern you set, be it rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, waltz, or samba. If you have a basic understanding of music you press one key, then move to another that sounds correct, then move back to the first. Do that over and over, record it on your computer and you have a song.

I don’t recommend using the prerecorded songs they have in some keyboards, because someone had to program those into the machine, thus they could be protected by patents or copyrights. Just make your own with the one-finger method. Going from C to F to G and back to C is enough to make a little ditty.

You can also find free stock music on YouTube or buy songs from budding composers who are doing with music what you are doing with film and video!

Finally, you blend all these elements in post-production by adjusting the volume line that runs down the middle of each soundtrack on the editing timeline, moving it up or down to make it louder or softer. Once you get it right, it stays there.

This is how the people in Hollywood do it, except they have a crew of a hundred or more technical specialists who charge an arm and a leg to do it for the person sitting in the big chair who doesn’t know or care to do the work but likes to see the results.

This is your short course in movie making. Experiment. Make mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. Do re-shoots. If you need more details, just go to the other sections in this book!

2. The Producer

The person with this job title has to arrange for everything to happen on a production so that the cast and crew can just show up and work. In professional Hollywood productions, the producers bring in key people to help start the ball rolling during pre-production. If you don’t have a given person to fill a required job, then you will have to do that job.

Understand the hierarchy of a production. There can be several EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, but only one is the top dog. The others are big dogs who brought actors, directors, funding, or distribution into the production. But the top dog or senior Executive Producer owns the project. That is the person who puts the production together.

The Executive Producer may give the title of PRODUCER to other people who bring things to the production, like bankers, lawyers, their mother or father. Sometimes those are just honorary titles, although some may get a salary or share of the profits. At other times Producers assist in making things happen.

Anyone with a title of Producer is sanctioned by the Producer’s Guild of America, but they aren’t necessarily members of that fraternity, as it’s not really a union, since all producers are management. It costs money to join the guild, plus you must already have major credits on films as a producer to qualify.

There are also SEGMENT PRODUCERS who work on variety or new programs. They Produce the 2 to 20 minute Segments you see on programs like Saturday Night Live or an evening news and interview show.

Producers handle all the negotiations for the key people (Director, Stars, Writers, Cinematographer, Production Designer, Composer, Film Editor, Sound Designer, and Special Photographic Effects teams), along with locations, and the rights to use things like existing songs, photographs, etc.

The Production Begins

All productions start with a story or script. This is brought in by one of the people who will get a credit of Producer or Executive Producer. Usually, the senior-most Executive Producer already owns the story rights and their production company is going to make the movie and get top credit. They will be the Presenter or have the first Production Company Logo listed.

You think of movies you’ve seen. The James Bond films. Albert R. Broccoli Presents... or you’ve seen the title: a Jerry Weintraub Production at the start of some film. Those are the top dogs. They are the Executive Producers, although sometimes they take the credit Produced by because they actually worked on the front line.

The Executive Producer may go out to find someone else to Produce that script into a film. That someone has experience bringing in a production on time and on budget. They will get the credit line of Produced By. They are often in the Producers Guild of America and will have the initials p.g.a. after their name in the credits.

Either the Executive Producer or the Producer they have hired will then bring in someone to Direct the project.

Next, the Executive Producer, Producer, and Director may decide the script needs doctoring or rewriting and they will pick someone who will do that task. Once the script is finished the Producer of the film will bring in a team to man the front office.

The Production Office

This is the nerve center of the production and it is generally staffed by someone called a PRODUCTION MANAGER, who is in the Director’s Guild and is a union worker doing management work.

On TV productions and big-budget features there may also be a LINE PRODUCER, CO-PRODUCER, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER or someone simply called a PRODUCER who is also involved in the front office, along with all the sets and locations. They generally do the work of what has sometimes been called the on the line producer or Line Producer.

There may also be a UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER working on each of the various sets, locations, and visual effects units. These people report to the Line Producer and Production Manager at the front office, where all the files, receipts, records, and W-4 forms on each employee are stored away.

There is a lot of paperwork involved in the Production Manager’s job. A lot of duties and a lot of power. Their job is to protect the budget that they put together for the Producer and Executive Producer, that got approved, was set in stone, and now they either have money or a line of credit from the bank to dole out to the various departments to pay for crew and supplies. They are accountable to the banks, studio, and financiers for this budget and the expenditures they approve, so they watch over things with due diligence.

The Line Producer would be the general manager of the production. They are on the front line. They go out to the location, down to the set, and they see to most problems. Line Producers sometimes come up from the ranks of Production Manager. They obtain permits to shoot, negotiate with businesses to shoot on their property and go out with the director to scout locations. They are like assistant managers at stores. They keep problems away from the Senior Producer.

The Production Manager or Production Supervisor is the office manager who is often in charge of accounts payable. They also do the below the line budgeting for the Producer and break the script down into shooting days, grouped by the crew, actors, equipment. They do initial negotiations for use of locations, but if the person or company won’t take the money they are authorized to offer, the Line Producer or if necessary the film’s Producer comes in and takes over the haggling process.

Production Managers/Supervisors handle a bulk of the paperwork, they keep all the records, and they forward originals or copies to the various unions as required. There are a slew of mandatory forms involved on a union shoot, so the Production Manager might hire in a crew of assistants such as a PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT, several PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS or PAs, and RUNNERS (nonunion entry-level workers with their own cars who run things here and there, do fetch and carry work – this is the first job some of you may get on a real set, and if they employ you for a specific amount of days [typically 30-90 days] in the same union department you might be able to Taft-Hartley into a given union if you pay the initiation fee).

These people run the PRODUCTION OFFICE which is where the big board is located that tells everyone what is being done in the studio, on location, on the second unit, on the various special effects or animation units. They also put out the budget breakdown sheets to the Producer and Assistant Director.

The Line Producer, Production Manager or Unit Production Manager will usually hire in the key union bosses (Key Grip, Key Lighting/Electrician, Construction Boss, Recording Engineer, Swing Gang Boss, etc.).

A lot of this depends on the size of the operation and who decides what will be done. The Line Producer may be too busy going out with the Director to look at locations, leaving the Production Manager to do the hiring of union workers, however, once the actual production gets started the Production Manager may be able to hire a Unit Production Manager to stay on the sets and locations. The Unit Production Manager may then hire, fire, and lay off the shooting crew.

The department heads who have already been hired in, may recommend or bring in the lower level crew members (grips, lighting people, carpenters, greenskeepers, painters, and other workers).

Production Managers and Line Producers know all the union rates, all the rules, and who to call when they need a crew member. They may also pass out and collect the W-4 tax forms each employee must fill out, along with the timesheets and timecards. All of that gets turned into the Production Office, where the Production Manager checks everything over and has a Production Assistant file things away